


Cold in the heat

by Watermelon_Pen



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Family, Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:01:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26276083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Watermelon_Pen/pseuds/Watermelon_Pen
Summary: No one lives happily ever after, it doesn't happen. But David Rossi and his British spy lover were facing their challenges and having their happy moments, till one day they had to figure out who put a target on their back and in the process they discovered even more for themselves, each other and their new-found family...
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Emily Prentiss, David Rossi/Original Character(s), David Rossi/Original Female Character(s), David Rossi/Other(s), Emily Prentiss & Original Character(s), Emily Prentiss & Original Female Character(s)





	1. It is not always calm before a storm

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ THIS:  
> This story is the the third one of a series, but you do not need the two others. It can stand alone. I will give any important details along the way. The other two stories are published elsewhere.
> 
> Just to have an idea of the previous stories: A case brought Hotch to London where both he and Emily admitted their feelings for each other. Emily came back to DC bringing along a friend of hers that she knew from her days in Interpol when hunting Doyle before joining the BAU: a troubled, British, female, undercover agent, Gloria Paterson. This woman had met Rossi a few years before during a presentation of one of his books in London. Back then they had a very short love affair and kept in touch. She was the influence that made him go back to the BAU. When in Washington and while Gloria was facing a personal case and serious issues, David and she realised that they were in love with each other. At the end of the case Gloria was offered a position to work for the FBI leading a Red Cell having left her undercover past behind. In the meantime Emily found out that she was pregnant and she married Hotch. 
> 
> This story: It takes place loosely in the summer after season 10 but some stuff from season 11 has already happened. Rossi has found out that he has a daughter and his ex-wife has appeared. His friend from Vietnam has passed, Strauss, too. Emily is married to Hotch and have a daughter along with Jack. Emily works for the Interpol office in DC. Hotch is still the leader of BAU. Morgan is still in the team. Tara Lewis is recently introduced to the team but they have come to know her relatively well.

" **Of all the things you choose in life, you don't get to choose what your nightmares are. You don't pick them; they pick you." ~ John Irving**

David Rossi felt sleepy as he was cleaning his Buick that sunny Saturday morning. It was July and the days were getting hotter and hotter. The heat could explain his sleepiness but he knew it wasn't that. He took another gulp from the coffee mug left on the bench of the garage and passed the deer skin cloth over the hood one last time.

Tara Lewis' vintage Opel pulled up on his driveway. She had promised to pass by to take the Buick for a ride. During one conversation about their newly discovered common interest in old cars, Dave had mentioned that the Buick had started making an odd noise and he couldn't find the reason. Tara's friend, her father's friend actually, the one that had found the radio antenna, had great experience in fixing old cars and he had offered to have a look, if they could bring the car to his shop. So that was the plan for the day.

"Good morning!" Tara greeted him cheerfully coming out of the car, "Every time I see this Buick, it looks newer and newer!"

"Good morning! Well, it's not like I moved it since the last time you saw it," David commented, "This heat doesn't make this car very comfortable during summer."

"Oh yes, if it wasn't for that open roof, I wouldn't be driving mine either. There are some things to thank technology for, like AC. I hope the iced coffees I brought will help us today," she offered him one of the three cups.

"That was a very good thought! Thanks!" Rossi smiled.

"Good morning, Tara!" Gloria's voice came from behind them, as she stepped out of the house.

Tara had already noticed Rossi's worn-out mood. It was strange, as they had returned very early the day before and Hotch had sent them home almost immediately. As she turned to Gloria, though, she saw that she was worse, exhausted. Even dressed in an oversized t-shirt and a pair of shorts, her red hair caught in a rough long ponytail, she had taken some care of her face, so she didn't look like a ghost, but her eyes were reddish and kind of puffy. Also, Tara noted that Gloria didn't walk instinctively beside David, she stood in the middle. She may be new in the team but she had been socialising with them quite a lot, David and his girlfriend included, to be very accustomed with the couple's habits and notice differences like that.

"We haven't seen you for a long time!" Tara said, "How are you?"

"You know, busy being busy," Gloria gave her a tired smile.

"Rough days?"

"You can call them that..." she replied offering an apologetic look to Dave and Tara for sure couldn't understand the reason, "Are you alright? I learn the team's news, anyway."

"I'm okay, excited to finally meet in person that Cadillac Michael is currently repairing in the shop. You are joining us, aren't you?"

"No, I'll have to take a rain check. I didn't sleep very well and woke up with a terrible headache."

"That's a shame. I hope that at least you'll enjoy this. Keep yourself cool," Tara offered her the other iced coffee.

"Thank you so much. I will. This heat is making my head worse anyway," Gloria smiled a bit again, "Enjoy yourselves."

Gloria turned to go rubbing her temple. David who had been silently watching her all that time turned to Tara.

"Give me two minutes. Get yourself comfortable," he said and rushed behind the other woman.

He caught up and passed his arm around her, making her pause her steps.

"How are you feeling, stella mia?" he asked quietly.

"Just my head is pounding which is expected, I guess. It will pass. Don't worry, Dave," she replied softly, looking at the ground, "I'm so sorry for last night..."

"Don't ever be. Try to relax. Stay away from those files and those cigarettes. OK?"

"OK. Go. Get some fun," she encouraged him rubbing his chest.

David looked into her eyes for a few moments, concern written all over his face. Then he pressed a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too," she breathed.

She watched him as he walked towards the car and waved at Tara already in the passenger's seat before walking slowly back inside the house.

* * *

Tara let David get occupied with manoeuvring the non power assisted steering wheel. Silence fell in the car for some time. Rossi's bubbly self was taken over by his worries, whatever they were.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

David looked at her. They were both profilers there was no much of a point to hide.

"I didn't sleep very well, either," he said.

"Is there something wrong with Gloria? She didn't look very well, but I assumed it was the headache."

"She is okay health wise. But... she has nightmares all over again." he shared.

"So she had them before?"

"Yes... When we first got together, she had gone through a lot, she had problems with sleep. But she had gotten over them."

"It's probably just stress, Dave. Since she had difficulties before, any extra anxiety may trigger them," she reasoned, even though she was aware that she was stating the obvious.

"She is stressed, that she is."

'Professional and personal matters...' he carried on in his head. They had been through many rough patches recently...

"But it's not just that..." he added.

"Is she working on a particular case that brings up memories, personal traumas?" Tara's professional attitude kicked in.

David shook his head thoughtfully, not wanting to get into details. What Tara was asking didn't really apply, though, even if Gloria's recent case was one of the reasons of her stress. He was already angry that they had dropped that particular case on Gloria's team. Yes, that new Red Cell had been proven to be an experiment, as guessed from the start. But apart from everything else, that new Acting Assistant Director had developed the habit of dropping them remnants of cases then and there. That last story? No. It wasn't even a real case. It was someone else's responsibility, not that team's.

"Not really..." he replied vaguely, "She has faced harder stuff and we worked it out. I don't know... Her nightmares are worse than ever before."

"We don't know each other that long or very well. Do you want me to try to talk to her, as a professional?"

"You can try, but I don't think she will talk. She is not the type to talk to psychologists. It's not just her. It's complicated."

Tara had supported agents before. They didn't open up, if their problems involve classified information. She wasn't aware of Gloria's history, only that there should be quite a lot to work in the type of Unit she was.

"I can't find an explanation. She doesn't seem to understand it, either. And last night was the worst of all..." David finished.

Tara didn't speak more. She was a forensic psychologist but David had the same knowledge even though he didn't have a fancy Phd degree to accompany it. If he couldn't find an explanation, given the apparent good communication he had with the woman, it meant that something else was going on.

David let a deep breath. Gloria had scared him the previous night. She had gotten scared, too.

_David returned early the previous afternoon, almost at the same time Gloria got back, too. She looked more at ease than the other days, finally coming slowly to terms with the story she was facing at work or probably she hadn't received any distressing calls. They had their showers. He cooked his and hers beloved carbonara. They talked about their days. Then they hugged on the sofa and read their books together, a habit they had developed overtime. She started dozing off on his shoulder and they moved to the bed. And that was when the problems began._

_David was still half-asleep, when he registered that Gloria beside him was letting out painful moans. He turned to his side towards her and her eyes flew open._

" _Shh... It was just another dream, tesoro..." he murmured._

_He held her hand, the technique he had used so many times before to keep her nightmares away. She closed her eyelids again and both went back to sleep. Not so long later, the same happened. The third time she tossed violently and she sat up with a loud shout, fully awaken and frightened._

_He sat up himself, rubbing her back soothingly but she didn't lean into him. She was frozen. She didn't even look at him her eyes fixed at the wall opposite them._

" _What are you seeing tonight?" he asked._

" _I don't know, nothing specific again. Just... fear..."_

" _What are you so much scared of, bambina?" he asked worried._

_That time she looked at him but didn't answer._

" _I'm sorry I woke you up… I'll go grab a glass of water. Get back to sleep," she said and she got up before he had the chance to say anything more._

_He wanted to wait for her but failed because when he opened his eyes again it was an hour later. The space next to him was cold and empty. He stood up to find her and he did, curled up in an armchair in the living room downstairs, a shot of whiskey and a lit cigarette in her hand. She had stopped smoking more than eighteen months ago, but with whatever was going on she had started again. Thankfully she wasn't doing it systematically. Weird stuff to notice in moments like that, but the red lit end of the cigarette was reflecting on the blue-green sapphire of the ring._

" _None of these two will help you, you know that," he spoke quietly._

_She got startled a bit and turned to him as he stood next to the armchair._

" _Dave, get some rest. You were on a case for four days. I should not be waking you up every half an hour."_

" _So you decided to stay awake, so as not to disturb me?"_

_She dropped her eyes. He was sure that was exactly what she had in mind._

_He took the cigarette from her hand and squashed it in the ashtray. It was her second one judging from the cigarette butt already in it and the second shot of drink if he remembered correctly the level of the bottle. He took the glass, too, and left it on the table. He brought his fingers to her chin and coaxed her face up, his mouth hovering close to hers._

" _I can't be home and sleep alone," he kissed her._

_He was intending for a soft kiss, but she became eager and it heated up. She knelt on the armchair, passing her arms around his neck and he got the chance to wrap his around her body. She writhed pressing herself against him. She left his lips and started kissing his jaw and his collarbone, the fingers of her one hand fumbling with the buttons of his pyjama top._

_He brought her face in front of his for just a moment. Her eyes were tired. He had assumed since the moment he stepped in the house in the afternoon that she hadn't slept well the previous nights either. But there was need and confusion in her stare, too. Was she looking for affirmation, comfort, or distraction? He didn't really know. He caught her lips more decisively that time and she moaned, his fingers slipping under the t-shirt she was wearing feeling the goose bumps forming on her skin._

" _Take me..." she breathed, "Please, just take me..."_

_It occurred to him that they hadn't had 'happy sex' for a long time. The 'resolving issues sex' and 'feeling better sex' was happening more and more often, though. He didn't know if or when he had to start worrying about that, too._

_He lifted her up slightly to step on the floor._

_"Then let's go back to the bedroom," he whispered hoarsely kissing her neck._

_The sparkle they had when they first met eight years ago, the sparkle they had when they got to together as a couple two years ago had never changed and never needed more than seconds to ignite. By the time they had reached the bedroom all the clothes were gone and they were all over each other.They fell together on the mattress. She was impatient and she tried to pull him to her. He pinned her hands above her head._

_"Not yet," he ordered firmly in her ear as his hand went south and_ _she let a loud cry opening herself eagerly, "Che brava ragazza (What a good girl)… Come one ride my fingers. I want to watch first."_

_Her pelvis was meeting his skilful hand before he had finished his sentence. He had realised even from their times before they got formally together that that otherwise arguing woman could be turned into a quivering mush with a bit of power play from his side in bed._

_He would never have enough of the sight in front of him: her green eyes looking at him full of lust and devotion, her flushed skin, its paleness in contrast to his tanned fingers, the twists of her waist, the heaving of her curves, their hard nubs begging for attention._

_"Bella, cosi bella… (Beautiful, so beautiful…)" he murmured nibbling on of those nubs._

_"David… David… Please…" she pled._

_And then it was again one of these moments when David had one of the hardest spies on the planet practically begging him for release._

_"Please... I need you inside me… "_

_He let her hands go to and she was pulling him again on top of her._

_"You'll have everything you need. I've got you… Always, stella mia," he whispered tenderly as he manoeuvred himself, "Oh God, Gloria… You are burning," he groaned._

_"Only for you… I missed you… I missed you so much..."_

_"It was only three nights…" he tried to tease but her inner muscles squeezed him and he almost lost track of the words._

_"Always looking for that ego-boost?" she muttered half-breathed, "Get it… You know how much I want you…"_

_"I know… And I did miss you, too," he moved harder than she expected and she almost screamed his name, "That's it. Let it all out, baby."_

_She didn't really need the encouragement. She was moaning loudly and calling his name and meeting his movements enticing him to increase his speed and force. He had managed to drive her over the edge twice, before he did and she joined him for her third time in a row. He collapsed on her shoulder, her holding on him loosely. He looked up_ _and she returned a content, weak smile. That was by no means a record of them but they were both exhausted. He gave her a slow kiss, lied next to her on his back and pulled her on his chest. They both fell instantly asleep and David's last glad thought that she had eventually relaxed and she would rest peacefully._

_But he was wrong. An hour later she started squirming against him in her sleep. He tried to hold her just a bit more tightly and that was proven a mistake. He knew that he had been sharing a bed with a highly trained agent with occasional sleeping problems for the past two years, but during any similar times of the past, him squeezing her had only resulted in her clinging on him and calming down. But that that time, she literally fought him, punching his chest, thankfully not too hard – her right hand was relatively weak anyway – but hard enough to hurt. He swiftly turned to his side catching her wrists in front of her and blocking her legs._

" _Calm down, cara… It's alright… You are safe…" he soothed with her still wrestling dangerously._

_Gloria finally woke up with a gasp in an absolute confusion about her whereabouts._

" _Shh… It's me, you're in our bed," he made sure she had heard him consciously before letting her go._

" _What happened?" she asked even more puzzled realising that he had immobilised her and then she saw the red wide mark below his collarbone and her eyes rounded, "Did I do that?"_

" _You were writhing, I held you more firmly and you went into defence mode. It's nothing."_

" _Oh my God! I'm sorry… I'm so sorry …" she replied embarrassed._

" _It's okay. I told you it's nothing," he rubbed her cheek, "What were you dreaming of that was so vivid?"_

" _It doesn't make any sense... I was in a place like a warehouse, it looked familiar but I don't remember where. And then a shadow was coming and I could hear gunshots outside. I didn't know who the shadow was or if it was related to the gunshots. All I knew was there was danger and I couldn't… I couldn't do anything…"_

_Her eyes watered. She pulled the sheet to her neck and tried to turn away from him._

" _What is it? Talk to me, please," he held her shoulder._

" _David, I am sleeping in your arms after sex and I dream of shadows and I punch you…? I...I don't understand what is going on in my head. What is wrong with me all over again?" the distress and fear were clear in her voice._

" _Nothing is wrong with you," he replied, hugging her and kissing her forehead, "Something is stressing you out. We will figure it out."_

_He felt a few tears on his skin and a kiss on the forming bruise._

" _Please, get some sleep yourself," she whimpered pulling her head back after some minutes._

" _It's okay, bambina…"_

" _I'll stay here. I'll try. But, please, rest. I feel already bad enough for all this mess tonight," she caressed his cheek._

_If he wasn't that tired, he would have argued more. But he was exhausted and her skin warm and he dozed off. Every time he came out of his sleep, he felt her touches on his face or his chest. She didn't want to close her eyes again. She had eventually given in the morning and was sleeping, when he woke up to get the car ready._

No, he didn't know what was going on. He had asked her what she was so much afraid of. He was aware that the only thing that could ever scare that woman was to be alone all over again. But she wasn't alone. All the other times, when he touched her, when she was in his arms she would be happy and calm, sleep like a baby. That didn't seem enough anymore...

* * *

They went to Michael's shop, met that old Cadillac he was currently working on. Apparently David's Buick needed an engine part, nothing extremely serious but he had to be careful while driving not to increase the damage. The guy promised to look for an original part. If he couldn't find one, he would make a replica.

Tara had kept thinking of their earlier conversation. Even the little she knew Rossi, seeing him so overly worried had unsettled her.

"Sorry for bringing it up again, but is Gloria dreaming of something specific?" Tara asked on the way back, a new idea in her mind.

"No. That's the problem. She dreams of shadows or unspecific stuff. Sometimes she doesn't even clearly remember what she saw," he replied not annoyed at all, despite the little break, his problems were already at the forefront of his mind.

"Has she become overly protective? Hyper-vigilant?"

"No more than her usual, but Gloria's usual is a lot."

"Are you sure you are all safe?" Tara asked tentatively.

"What are you implying, Tara? That there is some danger? That the nightmares are somehow foretelling?" he frowned.

David Rossi believed in a lot of things as he had said when the younger team members had once tried to profile him. He believed in Great Good and true Evil. He believed in God, redemption and sin. However, he drew a line at sixth sense, psychics, ghosts and stuff. The only ghost story he had ever believed was the one told by Clyde Easter two years ago, the one that send them to Gloria and Emily's rescue. It's not that he completely dismissed anything else as sometimes it seemed. He was just aware that if he started being too positive, this paranormal stuff could be a rabbit hole.

He had noticed two things with Gloria. One, she could get some strong hunches from time to time which didn't really have much of a logical base. However, she had lived through tough situations, she had developed skills to evaluate them and act at the drop of a hat, in the same way he could sniff a psychopath in three minutes. Two, she always seemed to know in advance if he came home from a hard case. He avoided giving her too many details when he was away so as not to make her worry, only if he was debating something. She knew, though, every single time and she would be waiting for him on the sofa no matter the hour of the night with a plate of warm food for him, freshly served whiskey for both and no underwear beneath her clothes for later. After more usual cases she would be already in bed, at the office or waiting for their return with Emily and the kids in Hotch's place. But probably she sensed his voice over the phone when he called the previous days; she had a very strong attachment to him. There was nothing beyond reality in both of these situations.

"I'm not talking about anything supernatural, Dave," Tara rushed to clarify, "There is a possibility her instincts have kicked in, she senses a threat. She thinks that someone is watching or some events may mean that something is going on."

"She had no problem pinpointing that before..."

"Before her sense was only about herself. Now, she has you, our team her friends, your goddaughter, your daughter, your grandson, her team. She cares about a lot of people. She feels some danger to someone, but it's new to her, she can't process it properly and it stresses her mind. I know it doesn't sound like the most professional explanation but I have seen it before. It's no psychic ability. Something has triggered it."

David turned to her thoughtfully balancing her words. He got startled when his phone rang.

"Aaron?" he said answering the call.

"Sorry to interrupt our weekends, but a child has been abducted in New York and they want us there by the evening."

"OK... I am with Tara. I'll drop her to her car and we'll meet you in Quantico," Rossi replied ending the call, "We got a case."

They reached his house. Tara went straight for her car, she had her go-bag in the trunk. David parked the Buick. Before he went for the other car, he got inside to grab his gun and badge and looked for Gloria. She was lying on the swing in the backyard with her eyes closed. She had files in her lap and the ashtray was left on the patio. She hadn't followed his advice, at all. He approached her quietly but she jumped up when he was just a couple of feet away.

"Shh... It's me. We got a case in New York, I have to leave," he rubbed her shoulder.

"OK... What is it?" she rubbed her eyes.

"Child abduction. I thought I suggested you to relax..." he commented looking at the papers.

"Well, I couldn't..." she replied annoyed.

"Gloria, you are practically looking for a dead body. With everything else, don't push yourself even more."

"I know, OK? But you also know that exactly because it's a search of a dead body, they dropped it to us. I need to give the answer that nobody cared about in the first place!" she raised her tone a bit and then she regretted it, "I'm sorry... It's not your fault..."

"It's fine," he soothed, "You cannot burst to the person that is the responsible. Take it out on me," he smiled.

Gloria dropped her eyes.

"Will you cancel with Joy? She has invited us over tomorrow," she spoke again quietly changing the subject.

"Let me see the case first. Everything may work smoothly, we may be back tomorrow. At the very end, you go to hers and I'll come straight there."

She nodded.

"Hayden will be there, too, right?" she asked tentatively.

"She hasn't gone back to France yet," he replied neutrally, he was very much aware of where that question came from.

"Alright... Go, then. Call me when you can."

He nodded kissing her.

"Stay safe, please..." she breathed.

Was there a bit more worry in her voice than the usual or was he just influenced by Tara's opinion? He didn't know.

"I will," he promised her giving her one more kiss and he walked around the house to the front.

He got in the car checking that the latch on the garage of the Buick was down and he had put the locket in place. It was not that important. His house was equipped with latest technology electronic doors and alarm system but with the Buick he always went old-fashioned, too. Some habits die hard. That car was always important to him. Even more since the day he had proposed to Gloria in it...

* * *

Gloria was swirling the engagement ring on her finger while waiting for the red light to turn off. She could tell that David would think that for one more time she wasn't helping herself by driving to the office that same Saturday afternoon. She was making him extremely worried, one with the nightmares, one with this story at work, one with her insecurities before all. He had been very patient, no question about that. But she had been tormenting him and that was the very last thing she ever wanted. Normal life demands normal people and she wasn't the woman next door...

She was approaching their premises. It was very convenient that the Red Cell was based away from Quantico, in a modified warehouse in an industrial and artistic area. They could come and go as they pleased and without formalities. But she had to fish the chain out the glovebox soon. She wasn't wearing the ring at work on her hand but on a long chain hidden behind her clothes. People had quite a few field days gossiping about the relationship back when FBI narrowed her down from MI6. His history with women, her shady and unknown to the majority past, the age difference hadn't helped. Both David and she didn't want to make their business everybody's business all over again. Only the people close to them knew.

Reaching the next light, she was about to text Emily if she wanted her to pass by later on to help with the kids, when she got the feeling that she was followed. With the mess in her head and the lack of sleep, she couldn't be too sure but the feeling she got was even stronger than that. She changed route, made a few abrupt turns. The feeling didn't get away. A dark blue sedan always appeared in close proximity, even though not right behind her. Whoever was driving could guess her tricks successfully. Shaking a tail wasn't rocket science but the driver seemed to know ahead that she would pick that particular road and that direction to turn. They knew her and that didn't leave many people on the planet.

She parked her black Mustang at a very obvious spot in front of a traffic camera and went into a coffee shop. She bought a coffee and she sat at one of the tables on the pavement. She didn't need to wait for long but a big surprise was also waiting for her.

"For which bloody reason do I get to see 'you' again?"

* * *

David was driving to his daughter's house on Sunday. Thankfully, that case in New York was solved and closed really quickly. A local sex offender had abducted the kid. With their profile and Garcia's data comparison they had located him quickly and saved the little boy before any harm came to him. They had even managed to fly back by Sunday noon. He had called Gloria. She should be already in Joy's house. He checked his phone for any texts and he realised that it had turned off on its own again. The device was playing numbers on him all day. First thing tomorrow he would get it fixed. For the moment he looked forward to playing soccer with Kai.

But the second he turned in Joy's neighbourhood the blood drained from his face. An ambulance and two police cars were parked in her driveway...

" **I've seen the future, brother; it is murder." ~ Leonard Cohen**


	2. When it hits but no one knows from where

" **When any calamity has been suffered, the first thing to be remembered is how much has been escaped." ~ Samuel Johnson**

David stopped his car on the pavement and ran towards the house flashing his badge to the police officers, not waiting for any permission.

A policewoman approached him quickly at the door.

"Are you Agent Rossi?" she looked quickly at his badge.

"Yes, I am. My family is in here."

"Don't worry, agent. They are all fine."

"Dad!" he heard Joy's voice from inside.

"Thank God..." he said with relief.

The woman let him rush to his daughter who was holding a very scared Kai in her arms. He hugged them both.

"We were trying to call you! You weren't answering!"

"My phone turned itself off. Are you OK?" he asked and his daughter nodded as he rubbed his grandson back, "What happened?"

"One moment Gloria shouted to get down and the next there were bullets everywhere…"

"Bullets? How? How it happened?" David got shocked.

He realised he was asking too many questions to shaken up victims, for an agent he should have known better. He saw Hayden sitting on a chair in the other room obviously in shock.

"Where's Gloria?"

"She fell on top of Kai to shield him. She cut her head on his truck." Joy replied to him.

She motioned towards the kitchen where a paramedic was stitching a slash on Gloria's forehead. She was watching him with a deep relief in her eyes. He had given her an extra scare by not answering his phone. David was thankful that Joy explained fully before showing him. He felt dizzy with the amount of blood on Gloria's blouse. But even small head injuries bleed a lot. He rushed to her side.

"You are ready to go," the paramedic was saying to her gathering his things, "Just make sure you keep it clean."

"That's fine. Thanks."

Gloria stood up only to be caught in David's arms. She held onto him silently. No matter her training, no matter her hyperawareness, she had been scared to death exactly because she was the one that could process the situation fully. He framed her face with his palms checking the cut over her right eye.

"What happened?" he asked again.

Now that he was sure that everyone was okay, he could focus on finding out who dared to target his family and Gloria was the only one that could have registered most of the details.

"Joy and I were playing with Kai in the backyard. Hayden was sitting at the patio. A black car passed by the road at the side of the house, a black SUV, like the ones of the FBI. There should have been at least three people, both the passenger's and the back seat window were rolled down. That's what I caught my eye. And then I got a glimpse of something black and metallic. The flash of a barrel? I don't know. The next thing I know is that I was shouting for us to get down, they started firing and I was reaching for my gun in the ankle holster."

"Did you see the licence plate?"

Gloria shook her head negatively.

"I couldn't, the fence was hiding it and we were practically pinned down."

"Did they try to come in?" David asked fear just at the thought of it.

"They seemed like stopping the car and I fired two shots. They sped off."

"Probably because you fired back..."

"David, they were at least three men with automatic weapons and I was one person with a regular firearm and one mag. I could delay them but…"

David took out his phone, trying to remember how to scroll the screen. She held his hand reassuringly.

"I already phoned Hotch. They are on their way here," she guessed his intentions, "And I informed the Acting Assistant Director. They are sending reinforcement so they can move us to a safe house immediately."

David let a breath. She had taken care of all the technicalities.

"I'll let my team know after this circus. Let's not get too many into this…" she replied to the last question in his head, "And we have enough problems already…" she commented looking over at Hayden who came towards them.

"Can you explain why this all happened, Dave? Machineguns aimed at my grandson and my daughter!" Hayden said intensely, "I knew that it was always a mistake to be around you with what you do!"

"Hayden, can we have that conversation when you have taken some breaths?" Gloria, who never had gotten between David and his ex-wife before, spoke immediately sensing him stiffening at Hayden's words.

"Don't dare to tell me to 'take some breaths'. You came to my daughter's house carrying a gun for God's sake! For what reason, eh?"

Gloria didn't reply. To be honest that was a question in David's head, too, even though he was more than thankful. He was planning to ask her much later.

"Because it's not just him. The problem is you, too! You are as shady as they could come. Who knows how many could be after you, as well! I knew that Joy shouldn't have reached out to you. We had a normal life and now we have two problems in it!"

"Hayden, we'll sort it out. I promise," David replied trying to sound calm.

"Promises, Dave! I've had enough with your promises!"

"Mum, just stop talking like that!" Joy intervened sharply.

FBI agents appeared, the reinforcement sent to transport them to the safe house.

"Shall we cut this before we become the next hot topic in the FBI break rooms?" Gloria said quietly.

"Haven't you two been already, anyway?" Hayden spat.

Gloria hanged her head and walked towards the agents. David had gotten unnerved. First, for one more time Hayden was justifying her choice to keep him away from his own child. Secondly, she was offending the woman he was with. Thankfully Joy spoke before him.

"It's my right to be in touch with my father. And Gloria protected my son with her own body. She doesn't deserve this attitude from you."

Hotch appeared through the door and gave the excuse to David to retrieve.

* * *

After checking the backyard in Joy's house that only confirmed Gloria's story, FBI moved all of them to a safe house. The BAU was already going through potential threats, but Hotch had refused Rossi being there. A first neutral look would have been more useful and it would have been better for Rossi to stay with the women and his grandsons that first night, at least.

After having comforted Kai and Joy, David had lied down on the bed of one of the bedrooms of the safe house, looking at the ceiling in thought and worry, when Gloria entered the room. She had phoned her team to let them know that an emergency had happened. They had to stay vigilant and not go in their premises till she contacted them. Then she had spent the rest of the evening making phone calls to Interpol and MI6.

"Everyone everywhere swears up and down that there have been no leaks and everything has been closed and filed. No one is looking into anything and may have retrieved information. And anyone that comes to mind is either dead or in prison," she sat on the bed.

David sat up next to her, his hand went for her shoulder.

"It can't be from you. Your files are under multiple layers of security and the people you helped catching have no idea about your real name. It's far too hard for someone to find you."

The person she saw the previous day had found her, Gloria thought. Well, he wasn't a criminal and he already knew her real name. She felt the urge to speak to David about that meeting, but she had already decided against it. That person was no good. He had never been the enemy, though. He had no motive or intention to be involved in what happened and David didn't need to know that story of her life, it would only raise more matters in his head. But there was one question: Why? Why had he appeared? It was no social call. He hadn't made one in twenty years. What brought him in front of her the previous afternoon? And for sure it wasn't to just poison her life…

"What are you thinking?" David asked softly and Gloria realised that she had been staring at him.

"Nothing I am just trying to understand what happened," she half-lied, "I was the one at the house, David," she added after a while, "You hadn't come yet. But I'm one hundred percent sure I wasn't followed. I did circles. I checked."

David knew that she had the habit of checking if she was followed. She did it every day to work as a precaution. She did it during regular drives unconsciously. He noticed because she kept checking the mirrors more than needed whether she was the driver or the passenger. But doing circles and being fully aware on a drive for a family afternoon that was over the top even for a former spy with dying hard habits.

"Gloria, I have to ask: Why were you carrying when you went to visit my daughter?" he spoke again in the same soft tone.

'Because that mysterious visit confused me too much on top of the nightmares. I was scared beyond reason for no real reason,' she wanted to answer.

"All these nightmares, I don't know... They made me insecure. I thought better safe than sorry," she half-lied again instead.

"Is there a possibility you have picked up on something lurking, some irregular activity? That's why the nightmares?"

"What do you mean?"

"I spoke with Tara yesterday and she is the one that mentioned to me that your instincts may have been alerted by something that doesn't fit, some danger. It's probably not to you but someone close. That's why you can't process it and it expresses itself in troubles with sleep. Given that I cannot calm you down, given what happened, it is possible, I think. One night ago you were dreaming of gunshots…"

Gloria remained stunned for a few moments. For sure she didn't expect David to come up with that theory. She had already thought of that dream and that's why Saturday's visitor was at the forefront of her mind. The visit had reminded her of how she knew that place she had dreamed of. It wasn't a warehouse. It was an abandoned building in Birmingham, England. How had she even dreamed of it just before he appeared? Most importantly what about the shots? How the heck had her brain combined those two together? She did trust her instincts and her out of the blue hunches but they had never blown out in nightmares before. She was no psychic. Was David right? Had something happened and had she picked it up unconsciously?

"I… I don't know…" she stared at the floor.

"I didn't say that to you to start overthinking. Don't. If it's this, it will come to you."

Gloria nodded and started changing into a t-shirt and pair of sweatpants.

"Do you have any news from Hotch?" she asked.

"They are still going through everything. I should have been there."

"David, they all need you here, at least for tonight..." she caressed the side of his face.

"You were their guardian angel today, bambina…" David whispered catching her hand and kissing her fingers.

Gloria's phone rang. She checked the number and let an annoyed breath. Some people can't keep a simple enquiry to themselves, she thought as she dragged the green circle on the screen. She shouldn't be answering that call in front of Dave but she didn't want to raise any suspicions by stepping out of the room.

"Paterson."

"Yours was the weirdest request for info I've heard of in the last decade," the female voice said over the device in her thick Scottish accent.

"I could have guessed so…." Gloria replied dryly.

"I've been informed about the incident at the home of your boyfriend's daughter. But I see no connection to a guy that has been retired from the agency for twenty years," the voice got stricter.

"I was just double checking something," she got firmer herself.

"Double checking?" her disbelief very clear.

"I'm overly thorough, April. Is there a problem with that?"

Gloria had asked a simple, confidential question to a tech guy of MI6 she knew. But he had spilled the beans to his direct boss and that boss was no other than Gloria's first trainer. April Wetherspoon had multiple ways to demand one hundred percent obedience and full disclosure by her staff and trainees alike. No wonder, the guy was scared of hiding anything from her. But Gloria had never been that obedient and had never given full disclosure, either, not just to her, to anyone.

"The problem is that it doesn't make any sense."

"There has been an attack. Every question can make sense. I just checked because I have heard that he is probably working for private bosses now," that was a lie, she never heard of that, but she took a wild guess to fish.

"Has something else happened, Gloria?" the woman at the other side of line suddenly sounded softer.

'You knew. You always knew...' Gloria thought annoyed. 'But it was convenient and I wasn't some innocent part.'

"Did you just call to interrogate me?" she spat back.

"No," the woman let a breath, "What you guessed, because there is no way to have heard of that, is not that far from the truth. He used to work privately, but we have no Intel where and for whom. He is old-school, highly skilled and disappeared in an era when tracking wasn't that easy as it is today. We don't know if he is still active or retired, though."

"I understand."

"Is your boyfriend's family doing alright given the situation?"

"They are. Thanks for asking," Gloria got softer.

"I hope you find who did this quickly. Goodnight, Paterson, and be careful," Wetherspoon finished and ended the call.

Gloria threw the phone on the nightstand and lied down beside David.

"Another dead end?" he asked avoiding digging into the phone call.

There was something in Gloria's eyes, something he hadn't seen before, which was strange. They had talked about a lot of matters. She never had that expression. It wasn't like one from a painful memory. It was something else that he couldn't pinpoint.

"It looks like it…" she half-lied again.

She closed her eyes for a few moments. She hated it. That whole thing was unlikely to be relevant to the shots, objectively speaking. But she hated lying next to David and lying to him. She had done that a lot in her life but for the job and the target, she shouldn't be doing the same to him. She nested in his side placing her arm around him.

David caressed her hair. He could tell that she was hiding something. Gloria may had deceived many people on the planet, but she couldn't deceive him. Not because she wasn't able to. He was very well aware that if that woman ever turned on him he would have no chance of ever seeing it coming in spite of his profiling skills and all. But she was so sentimentally involved with him that she couldn't bring herself to and she was even becoming gauche. He trusted, though, that if it was relevant to whatever threat was out there she would have told him.

He was pretty sure that none of them got any proper sleep, apart from occasionally drifting off. Just a bit of sleep came in the early hours of the morning. They were woken up by Kai opening the bedroom door and slipping in the bed between them.

"Grandpa! Ria!"

"Are you OK, Kai?" Gloria asked startled.

"I had a bad dream…" he replied rubbing his eyes.

"You are safe. We are here, son," David said hugging him and kissing his forehead.

"I got very-very scared…"

"Hey… It's okay to be scared," she soothed getting hold of the toddler's hand, "Dreams can feel very real. But they are not. They are just our brain playing games."

"Not a nice game…"

"Nope. But they help us process what has happened. They can't harm us. They make us stronger, you know," she replied, "Let me give you a tip. Every time you have a bad dream you think really hard that you are not alone, that we are all with you and it will go away."

David smiled with his grandson's deep thinking face. Gloria had an amazing way around kids. She was very tender but at the same time she instinctively knew how to treat them and speak to them as adults. He had noticed it, too, with JJ's sons, Jack and even little Skylar, Hotch and Emily's daughter, their goddaughter. Others were surprised, not him. Gloria was made in certain ways because she had to adapt. If she hadn't been in some situations as a child and as an adult, she would have been a completely different person. Her roots and her soul were much different from her rough and tough attitude. And she could have certainly been a great mother.

Ten months into their relationship David had asked her if she ever wanted to try for a baby. The funny thing was that he had once tried to stay away from her despite his feelings, thinking that he was too old to offer her a family, but he had been the one bringing up the subject. She had told him before that she couldn't have kids. But she had managed to beat some of those those chances in the past, even though the pregnancy had been unsuccessful. Medicine had evolved since then and he had nothing but time and money in his hands if she wanted to take the plunge. He would have taken it, too, with her and for her. However, Gloria had refused. She didn't want to deal with doctors and in the highly unlikely scenario there was a chance through a medical route, she didn't want to take any medicines or risk any more miscarriages. If it was to happen naturally – they weren't using any contraception anyway – then that would be a different story and they would do their best to bring a pregnancy to term. But she had gotten pregnant naturally when she was twelve years younger and with a man twenty years younger than him at the time. By then she was over forty and David was over sixty. The possibilities for a baby in the usual way were zero for them. And she was OK with that. He had completely understood her view on the matter and he was still conscious about his age, anyway. He was OK, too. Probably the baby was just wishful thinking. Back with Caroline, having kids hadn't been really a formal decision. Having kids is what young married couples do, don't they? That time with Gloria was the first time that David Rossi ever thought of having kids consciously.

Five months later he had asked Gloria to marry him, despite his former strong belief that a fourth marriage was out of the question for him. Three months after that, Joy appeared in their lives, a child of his from the one marriage he hadn't even stayed long enough and that he had properly dismissed for his career. And she brought along Kai having climbed on the bed with them just like a child of their own could have done.

"Do you get bad dreams, too?" Kai asked Gloria interrupting David's thoughts.

"Sure. All people do, more often when something scary happens to them."

"And you think that Grandpa is with you and it goes away?"

"It works like a charm."

She smiled to the child but she gave David a thoughtful look. His thought, his presence, even his voice, always had a calming effect. Those nights they didn't. Was she scared for him? Was he in danger because of whatever she had picked up? Or was she scared that she would lose him, that he would leave her because of it and what it was about to unravel? Gloria felt nauseous just with the thoughts.

"Kai, how many times I've told you not to sneak into other people's bedrooms?" Joy said softly as she appeared through the door, "I'm so sorry. He was sleeping and I just left him for a bit to get some water from the bathroom."

"It's no problem, at all," Gloria said checking the time on her phone and turned to David standing up, "The shifts are about to change. One of us should be downstairs. I'll go."

"We'll hang here for a bit," Rossi nodded tucking his grandson at his side and she caressed the kid's hair.

"Joy, do you want a coffee?" she asked grabbing a small bag from the nightstand drawer; she had her gun and holster in it, secured since they had a small child in the house.

"I'll come downstairs with you," she said looking at her son with concern for one more time before closing the door.

"Don't worry. Kai is still shaken up but he will be okay. Kids usually recover more quickly than adults," Gloria reassured her, "How are you holding on?"

"I couldn't let him out of my sight. But I'm better than I expected, I guess."

"You are Dave's daughter at the end of the day," she smiled to the side, "Did you tell your husband?"

"He has a game tonight. I don't want to distract him. No one is injured and we are safe here for the moment."

Gloria paused for a bit to take the gun and its holster out of the bag and clip it at her waist covering it with the long t-shirt.

"Sorry, but the change of shifts is a weak moment in these situations. Any danger is highly unlikely but just in case."

"Don't apologise, Gloria. You kept us safe yesterday. And with Kai…? I didn't get to say thank you."

"Don't thank me. I did what I had to do. And don't thank me, too, till we figure out who brought these men to your door…" she looked at the floor.

"Don't take my mother's burst so seriously. With what you and dad do, I know there are dangers, but things like this are rare. It just happened to happen to us."

Gloria looked back at her realising that David's logical thinking was somehow hereditary. They went to the kitchen, after Gloria exchanging a few casual words with the agents camping in the living room and got busy with making coffee. Joy looked thoughtful, though. She spoke again.

"What I got to really see is that out there, when he or you step out of the door to go to work, chances for something like this get too high. I will certainly worry more about my father now."

"Don't get into this mind-set," Gloria replied, "Are our chances of being hurt higher than an accountant for example? Yes, they are. But we have the training and the experience to get out of situations. David knows how to take care of himself. And he is surrounded by people that know how to take of themselves and each other. You just have to trust that."

"But I can't help but wondering if that played a role in my mother's decision to do what she did with me. I'm not saying I agree, but she had some points of not wanting to live in that worry."

Gloria didn't speak. She didn't really want to get involved into this kind of discussion. She had mixed feelings about the situation.

"What would you do?" Joy asked quietly.

"Joy, don't get me into this story. It's not my place…"

"If you were to have a child with him, would you want him to disappear for days while you would stress whether he would come back?"

"That's a fictional scenario…"

"Hypothetically speaking," the younger woman pressed more.

Gloria shook her head. She had no way out.

"I would ask him to never step foot in the field again… And I would quit first," she admitted honestly.

The younger woman looked like balancing the words. Gloria decided to clarify some things. This whole story was still fresh and Joy hadn't really found her grounds in it.

"But that's personal," the redhead added, "Our Goddaughter's parents are doing more than fine and Hotch is still in the field normally. JJ, an agent in Hotch's team, is the same. They manage to do it and they are good at it. They have their reasons. I, personally, wouldn't. And I have my own reasons."

"What are your reasons?" Joy asked almost impulsively but then regretted it, "That's only if you want to tell me. I know I am becoming too indiscreet…"

"My mother died when I was ten, not due to any dangerous job, at a car accident. My father never got over it. Let's just say I practically grew up with no parents. It didn't work that well for me and it could have been worse. I would not be able to manage with a similar danger to my own child and normal life is dangerous enough," she explained reluctantly only half of her reasons.

The other half was that she had once considered a family with another man and he was murdered on the job. She had already lived that scenario once. She couldn't afford to have it twice. She worried for David as they were already, regardless of kids.

"Everybody has lived a different life and sees things in a different way. That's a discussion you have to have with your mother, not with me, Joy."

Joy watched the other woman as she obviously tried to avoid her stare and the topic altogether.

"But then you do think that she had legitimate reasons to do what she did. That's why you got so insecure when my mother appeared, isn't it?" Joy said softly.

Gloria eventually looked at her surprised and embarrassed.

"My father looked overly troubled one evening. Trust me; I had to push him way too much before he revealed anything and even then I had to drag the answers out of him."

"I'm sorry…" she murmured, "I was stupid…"

"Love makes us think the craziest of things, doesn't it?" Joy smiled in understanding.

Gloria wished it was that simple…

A knock came from the front door stopping abruptly that uncomfortable conversation. Gloria stepped to the living room, her hand close to her hip as the agents opened the door to the new shift. The two new agents hadn't come alone. The lean, tall, dark figure of Special Agent Mark Ryland, a member of Gloria's team, appeared with them. That morning couldn't get worse, she thought.

"Good morning, Paterson. Your weekend was that bad? How are you?" the man asked her with concern in his deep voice.

"I am okay. We all are," she replied firmly, "Who told you to come here? Because I didn't."

"The Acting Assistant Director disclosed the whole situation to me. He assumed that it would be easier if I acted as a liaison. He has sent you an email," he replied.

"I would have appreciated a call from you at least. The BAU has taken the lead for the moment and they haven't shared any findings yet. What I had to enquire, I did it through my personal contacts. There is no plan of action yet. There was no need for you to be here."

She didn't use to be that bitchy with her team. She had more of a neutrally friendly approach. They were a small team, anyway, five agents her included. Most of them had some challenges. She didn't want to make their situations worse by being over the top strict. She couldn't really be anyway. At that moment, though, she was pissed with the Acting Assistant Director stepping all over the situation and not letting her decide for herself when to talk to her team and what to say. She was so looking forward for the Director to finish whatever he was doing and get back to overlooking the Red Cell or at least get a new permanent Assistant Director. That bureaucratic smooth talker was getting on her nerves way too much… And swallowing her temper wasn't that easy.

"Do you want me to go, then?" he asked, his tone getting stern, too.

Gloria could tell that her harsh attitude had startled the agent and he was one of those that didn't like any nonsense from anyone, not even their superior.

"Hotch will phone at any moment, so I guess we can just wait. There is fresh coffee in the kitchen," she changed her tone; there was no need for more tension under one roof.

"Okay," he nodded softening.

Agent Mark Ryland was practically the second after her. To be honest, he could have been the leader of that Red Cell, if the FBI hadn't wanted to offer her something big enough to get her to leave Interpol and convince MI6 to loan her to them instead. Ryland was a couple of years older than her and with a history similar to hers, as he had been working on FBI undercover operations his whole career. Gloria had to admit that his character was much more stable than hers, too. She had been concerned that he wouldn't be that happy with being assigned under some British woman borrowed from a different agency. And indeed he was reserved at the start, till a couple of times when the situations and he actually challenged her and Gloria had proven her skills and actually showed even more than his. Since then it seemed that she had gained his respect.

They went back to the kitchen where she introduced Joy to the agent as she was on her way to check up on Kai and her father.

"I'm sorry for my tone before," Gloria said when they were left alone, "The situation is serious and personal, I would have preferred to get the team involved in my own terms. But you just did what you were told."

"I understand. And you are right I should have rung before I appeared," he appreciated her apology, even though he wasn't the type to apologise if he was in her shoes.

"What about the other case? Did you find anything new?" she asked after a pause and two sips of coffee.

"I'm afraid we don't have anything to make anyone that may know or was with her last talk. If we ask too much, we are risking of blowing up the rest of the investigation. I've told you before; we are not that far from the sea. We may never find her."

"Those people have a power complex. If they figured out an undercover agent and killed her they would use it to scare others, somehow. They have something whatever that is."

"When the investigation ends, they may figure it out. There is no much difference. She volunteered; she chose to go undercover. She made a mistake. She is gone."

"Tell that to her mother when she phones next time," she spat back, instantly regretting showing emotional attachment to the case; Ryland considered this another type of non-sense and a weakness.

"She didn't seem to care that much about her mother, when they picked her up with gangs at seventeen, did she?" he said coldly.

Gloria felt her blood boiling but she kept it in. It was better not to show more or he would realise that she was identifying herself with the presumably dead agent and questions would pop in his head. Only whoever from the FBI enquired about her knew how she had ended up in the agencies in the first place, the paper version anyway. It wasn't something to brag to the people she led about.

"Just like we don't know whose fault exactly the death of a twenty-three year old agent is, the same way we don't know whose fault was her being in the streets. It may not be entirely hers. You are asking too much from such a young girl, don't you think? And don't speak ill of the dead, Ryland," she replied firmly.

'If she is dead,' she thought and kept it to herself, like she had kept it from everyone. Only David had suspected that she considered it possible. He had acknowledged her reasoning but had underlined that she shouldn't be carried away by basically hopes. She had followed his advice. The situation was hard enough, anyway, by having a mother desperate to at least put her child to rest.

Ryland raised an eyebrow to her reply.

_"You were too good but you were eventually too sensitive, too, weren't you? I should have guessed that," he said raising an eyebrow disapprovingly._

That face from Saturday flashed in front of Gloria's eyes. She got so distraught by that that she lost momentarily her yearlong ability to read people like Ryland. She couldn't tell if he was disapproving or found the point in her remark and probably wrongfully she was clinging towards the disapproval getting herself even angrier.

Her face was her usual poker one, of course. She realised she was overly projecting her own issues and they were irrelevant. Were they irrelevant for sure though? She should have a look on her own maybe, not trust whatever the people from the other side of the world were telling her, they had lost him and no tracking and everything… Possibly it was true. But no intelligence service in the whole world was ever fully truthful. In any way it didn't mean that they couldn't track him back. She could. Her team could.

"Apart from whatever comes from the BAU, I would like Leenux to find feed of any street cameras of this road at 4.15pm the day before yesterday, Saturday, and for the next two hours. She will see my car parked and me going in a Starbucks. Also, she should check this licence plate and how far around that road she can locate it," she decided quickly noting on a scrambled paper the name of a road and a licence plate.

Leenux was the nickname of their young tech girl, Lee Xing.

"Is she looking for anything else in particular?" Ryland frowned puzzled.

"I just need all she can find. I'll check it and I'll tell her what she has to look for further. And please, this stays between you, her and me," she replied.

"Consider it done."

"Thanks."

She pushed the paper towards him with her left hand. His eye fell instantly on the ring there. She realised she had forgotten to take it off. She wasn't the type of woman to wear fancy jewellery casually and the sapphire with the diamonds even in a delicate and discrete design didn't really hide that it was an expensive piece. Ryland could easily guess that that wasn't just any ring. In any way, since the previous afternoon their business had become everybody's business all over again and the agent wasn't the type to comment. But Gloria felt like his stare stayed on the jewellery for a bit longer than it should.

Steps were heard from the stairs and he put the paper in his pocket as David appeared talking on the phone.

"Hold on a moment, Hotch. Let me put you on speaker," he was saying, noticing the other agent in the room and turning to Gloria who nodded that his presence was okay, "I have Gloria and Agent Mark Ryland with me," he had been introduced to Ryland, before.

"As I said we didn't find anything obvious," Hotch's voice came from the device, "We started going through contacts of inmates. One of the first hits we got is that Yates is in touch with a woman. She is probably a fan and nothing more but it's still worth checking."

"I am practically this guy's lifeline," Dave commented, "If I am not around, he can still be put on death row."

"You were not in the house, Dave…" Aaron replied.

David shook his head from side to side acknowledging the point. He wasn't the target. His family was the target. He had to look for the danger he brought to them, not the danger he brought to himself. Gloria, who had come close to him leaving Ryland at the corner, rubbed his arm to calm him.

"Hotch, that thing yesterday was organised. Someone learned and watched and sent other people to do his job. Don't you think it is too much for a loner psycho to organise?" she asked.

"I do. But in prison they can meet people from organised crime background," the BAU Unit chief answered, "And that brings me to another matter. There has been some chatter about a hit being out on an FBI agent."

Rossi and Gloria exchanged deeply concerned looks. A hit meant anyone could target whoever that agent was just for the money, irrelevant hit men looking for business.

"Do we know the amount?" she asked.

"30,000 dollars."

"That's too low for either of you," Ryland spoke stating what was already in his leader's mind.

"He is right. David, you are an FBI celebrity. The people I have pissed off even if they knew my name could be certainly far more generous than this."

"And if that yesterday was related to a hit they would have burst into the house. They wouldn't have been put off by two shots. They would have been sure that someone knew how to shoot, so the potential target was in," Rossi agreed.

"I was considering the same factors," Hotch affirmed, "But we need to take precautions nevertheless. Gloria, your team will have to be temporarily moved here, in case the location of your premises has been compromised."

Gloria looked over at Ryland in question. He shook his head negatively. He didn't know that.

"Okay. I'll make the calls," she said.

"Please get to Quantico and we can go in more depth," Hotch was about to end the call when quick steps were heard.

"Sir! Sir!" Garcia's voice sounded urgent, "This came through the post. They opened it at security as the folder has no return address."

The shuffling of a page travelled through the microphone.

"What is it, Aaron?" Rossi asked anxiously.

"It is a threat letter."

"Addressed to whom?" it was Gloria's turn to ask, her touch on David's arm getting into a grip.

"To whom will understand it," Hotch read.

" **Sphinx is the riddle, not the riddler." ~** **George R.R. Martin**


	3. Secrets and lies

**"A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept." ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafón**

'You play around with people's minds and lives. You think that it is just going to carry on? Do you remember the lion and the mouse? The lion in your story ate the mouse after the mouse had set the lion free. Now it will pay. Sooner or later you will pay, later actually much later than you should but it is never too late. The weather may be hot but there is a storm coming.'

The words of the letter kept replaying in both David and Gloria's minds as they were getting dressed to head for Quantico. But Gloria was trying with all the skills she had to conceal her face from showing that she was getting increasingly worried.

" _Let's cut the crap. I am asking you again. For which reason you are in front of me?"_

" _It is too hot, isn't it? That will bring down some storm."_

Did she have to consider it a clue? A clue towards the direction that Saturday's visitor and the shootings the previous evening were connected? Or was it just a regular saying to avoid the answer? Was it a threat? A warning? What? Gloria was getting unnerved. Why should have it been him? She had ignored it to get away thinking that he was just carrying on with what he had said before. But what would be the reason for a flipping letter? He could have threatened her in person. But he had no reason whatsoever. And the letter was sent to Quantico? And what was up with all this lion and mouse?

"We should ask Hayden, too, about the letter before we leave, don't you think?" she said to distract herself.

"We probably should, just to cover the basics," Rossi admitted.

"Do you want me to do it?"

"No, I will. She disappeared last night. We have to talk, anyway."

She nodded.

"Leave the ring on," David said quietly after a pause, as he saw her getting the chain from the pocket of the bag.

She turned to him in question and surprise.

"It's the last of our problems but people are going to start talking, again."

"Are you sure it's a good idea? Now out of all times?"

"We could wait for this to finish but let's pre-empty them. They'll say I got a daughter and the ex-wife. I don't want them to refer to you as the 'girlfriend' or spread anything stupid."

"You know I don't care about what people may say."

"I do. I am the one the Bureau loves to gossip about. I am not dragging you along. The ring will not only set things straight but tell them that if they dare to involve you into their nonsense they'll have to deal with me."

Any other woman would have protested his ways. But Gloria was aware that Dave tended to be old fashioned sometimes and was overly protective of her when it came to people's rumours, not only because he was blaming himself for the unwanted attention, but because he knew she had been the subject of gossip in her past and most of it happened after a tragedy, when the guy was no longer around to take her side.

"Okay, whatever you think is the best," she complied.

'Is he sure he doesn't want this all to pass in case he changes his mind?' her mind hissed and she got scared for a whole different reason. She stepped close to him, placing her palms on his chest.

"Till we get it sorted, please be careful, my love…" she breathed.

"You, too, stella mia. You, too," he whispered back, pulling her lips on his from the back of her head.

He didn't know who had reassured whom more strongly when the kiss ended. But he still had that feeling in his stomach that something else was off, that something else on top of everything bothered the woman he loved.

A soft knock came from the door and Gloria pulled back grabbing her bag from the side of the bed.

"Yes," David answered, clearing his throat.

The door opened slowly and Hayden appeared.

"I am sorry for coming here but I thought that's the most private place in this house I can find both of you," she explained quickly.

She looked much calmer than the previous night.

"I just want to apologise for last night. The things I said to you two were way out of line."

Hayden wasn't some crazy, harsh woman. It was the shock talking before. And who knew? Probably Joy was right. She had kept her away due to the dangers, too, and over just the six months the young woman was in touch with David, this happened.

"It's totally understandable," Gloria spoke softly.

Again one of these times, Hayden thought. Gloria had been the one to try to stop her and "take some breaths" first and when she didn't, she had not returned a single answer. And then she was the first one to diffuse what happened, too. That was the most she had done since Hayden had met her. Normally, she never took position, avoiding an opinion on anything, even the simplest of things. She looked like a feisty person. Joy had described her as very spirited, too. But during any interaction that involved the three of them, the younger woman was the complete opposite. Hayden and David had still a rocky relationship sometimes but it wasn't like her stance could help anything in particular.

David threw a side look to his fiancée, probably understanding the reasons for her passive behaviour better and didn't look like he approved them. She avoided his eyes and took the thin jacket from the chair.

"I have to make some calls," she said," Hayden, there are two agents inside, two in a car outside and a van with a surveillance team and a SWAT agent. A fly passes by and they know about it. You are safe here."

"Okay. Thanks."

And yet again one of the times Gloria was retrieving from the conversation completely.

"Did she take my attitude that lightly, or didn't she just want to make me feel bad?" Hayden commented on David's thoughtful face watching her closing the door behind her.

'Probably she thought wrongly that you had every right to burst out on her and call her a problem and shady and implying that she was a good fit for people to gossip, but let's not get started with Gloria's self-esteem,' David thought.

"A bit of both, I guess," he said instead, "I know this wasn't supposed to happen. I know you were never a fan of our job, too. But when it frustrates you, take it out on me and not Gloria, please."

The black woman nodded.

"I'm sorry. I guess that with the gun unsettled me, even though I should have been thankful. Did she use to do that regularly?"

"No," David reassured her, "But she also didn't come to the house knowing that a threat was around."

"Good timing, then," she replied with still a bit of disbelief.

"Good instincts, I would say," he raised his eyebrows, "Hayden, we received a threat letter…"

* * *

The ride to Quantico was silent. Ryland's phone beeped from an incoming text, as he drove the SUV with Gloria and David sitting in the back seat. Gloria noticed Leenux's name popping on the screen. Ryland had already messaged her what she needed her to look up. Probably she was texting that it was done. Mark threw a look at her through the mirror, but Gloria didn't meet his eyes, turning towards the window. She had realised that in between everything she had asked him in the kitchen to keep the whole extra investigation a secret from the very man that had put that ring on her finger. For sure whatever he was thinking was very far from the reality, but still Gloria should have been more careful. In the rush to keep her secret, she wasn't thinking very straight...

David noticed that weird play of glances and he could also tell that she was absentmindedly swirling the ring on her finger below the jacket in her lap, his gut feeling getting stronger. But he brushed it off to the fact that Agent Mark Ryland always made him feel uneasy while Gloria seemed pretty much okay with him.

In any way that a matter in hand was that Hayden was very sure that she had created no enemies during her career as a diplomat, at least not deadly ones. In either way the threat had come either from him or Gloria...

* * *

"The lion and the mouse is one of Aesop's fables," Reid explained to the BAU team and Gloria in the conference room, "A mouse wakes a lion up. The lion threatens to eat it. The mouse says that it is too small to satisfy it and the lion spares it. When the lion gets caught by the hunters the mouse returns the favour by breaking the lion free. The morale of the fable is that kindness is always rewarded and no one is too small to help. In some variations this was given from a political aspect saying that no one in society is unimportant even from the lowest classes. Actually in one variation, the lion offers the mouse whatever it wants and the mouse asks for the lion's daughter to marry. But the bride steps on the mouse and kills it by accident on their wedding night. That variation wanted to ridicule people that tried to raise in social classes through marriage."

"But according to the story of the letter the lion ate the mouse after it helped him out," Tara said.

"So in short we talk about ungratefulness, or at least perceived ungratefulness. Someone that thinks they helped out and not only they weren't returned the favour but instead got destroyed," Gloria concluded.

" _You knew I would take care of you and I did, even more than what you had ever expected. You didn't mind about the rest. You liked it. You liked it very much, indeed. You can be nothing but thankful to me."_

That discussion came up again in her mind. No, the person from Saturday wasn't behind that. She wasn't thankful for anything. But she had done what she was told. She had kept her end of the agreement.

"It feels a bit too obvious," Morgan remarked.

Does anyone come to mind that would have that much rage?" JJ asked their two friends and they both shook their heads no.

"JJ, during my career I may have been helped and didn't always say thanks. They thought I was a bastard but I don't think anyone was so unnerved to harm the people close to me," Rossi admitted.

"This happens everyday. Sometimes it is even an honest mistake. Most people either don't care that much or get annoyed for a bit. Very few pay that much. And have in mind that this whole thing can just be in the person's head. It is not obvious at all," JJ carried on.

"There are a few types of people that could have considered themselves so helpful: a material witness or a police officer or another agent," Hotch spoke for the first time.

"There should be something in the choice of the fable," Tara spoke again, "There are many ways to call someone out for ungratefulness. Why choose that one? It is a fable told mainly to children. The UnSub may be a parent."

"Or even worse, a parent that wants revenge for an ungratefulness towards their child," JJ added.

David looked at Gloria. She was in touch with that missing presumably dead agent's mother, even though it was close to impossible.

"Sally? Not a chance," Gloria replied to the question in his head, "First of all, I am the only one that is actively looking for her daughter. She is far too distraught and has no criminal connections. And this happened just a month ago. Based on this letter whatever they mumbling about seems to be back in the past. Sorry, we are talking about the mother of a missing undercover agent considered dead my team is looking for," she filled the others in, "The team had nothing to do with the operation she was in, though."

"So she can't blame you in the first place," Hotch said.

"No. Can that be a code of some sort, by the way?" Gloria wondered, "Back in the days they used some weird names for people and operations, back like twenty-thirty years ago at least in Europe."

"Not here," Rossi replied.

"In conclusion, in the search we have to include a person that contributed but wasn't rewarded or some tragedy happened to them. We will look into their relations after," Hotch finished and the team nodded.

"And we'll keep checking our end and well, mine," Gloria said and headed for the door.

She rushed through the corridors towards the techs' office where one was offered to Leenux. She would first check with her, speak to the rest of the team after. She found the small, young woman in her mid-twenties of Chinese descent in front of the computer screen with some papers next to her.

"Hey, did you find the stuff Mark messaged you about?"

She turned away from the screen to nod at her.

"Yes, I found these images and I tracked the name from the rental company," she replied in her usual reserved way.

Gloria, who was already looking at the photos, skipped to the printed page: Jason Barnett. That was a fake name. Then a photo caught her attention. Her analyst had found an angle towards the pedestrian walk in front of the coffee shop. She could see herself rather clearly.

"Did you get more from this camera?"

"I have a whole video. It is just a live camera, it streams on the internet, the recording is stored in a random server," she replied, finding the file.

"Please play it from the moment I step in."

The video started playing on the screen. Gloria saw herself walking in the shop and then out at a table on the side pavement, away from the view of the camera. Then the figure of the man coming to find her appeared just at the edge of the screen.

"Forward it fifteen minutes," she instructed.

She was then walking away on the screen. Lee, who didn't know what her boss was waiting for, looked at her. Since Gloria didn't tell her to stop it she didn't speak. Just five minutes later the man turned but not towards the direction he had come in. He walked right into the camera's view and he actually stared straight into it with one of those knowing smiles. Gloria felt that disgust at the pit of her stomach. He knew that she would look into their meeting, that they would come across that camera. Did he know what would happen just a day later? Or did he just think that she would try to find why the heck he had decided to appear, anyway?

"Could you print this?" she spoke, gathering her thoughts, "And run whatever you can find on this name: Jason Barnett here. It is an alias so have that face as a reference. Look for just the face, too."

"Okay," Lee replied.

"Thanks. And please do it as fast as you can. We may be bringing some other stuff that is irrelevant to this. Keep everything in a separate folder. As said it is confidential."

Lee not understanding but never asking questions nodded nervously.

* * *

"No one seems to have his feelings hurt somehow. Most importantly you are not even properly mentioned in these files, only some random codes," Emily said after they had spent a couple of hours listing her operations with Interpol since the very start of her career.

Gloria's team was going through theirs but they were a very fresh team and this whole thing felt like a years long revenge. Even if they had dealt with older cases no one could really hold a grudge against them, even more against Gloria personally. So she had sat down with Emily who was still working for the Interpol office in Washington to go through her part properly.

"And I was under, I wasn't really making decisions on the case only on the ground," Gloria agreed.

"Only if something happened down there," Emily tried.

"I don't think anyone has been helpful to me voluntarily and even if they had, they don't even know that they were helping a law enforcement agent anyway to expect something. I've gained nothing to be honest, what lion, what mouse…" Gloria exhaled frustrated.

"Ria, the most likely is that it is not from you."

'And why did that bastard come to me? Why the hell am I having nightmares?' the redhead thought, rubbing her head nervously.

Emily watched her friend. She was far too tense.

"Do you still have problems with sleep?" she asked with concern.

Gloria nodded.

"The worst it got was on Friday. I was constantly dreaming of fear and shots, I punched David in my sleep. It was a fucking mess… He said that I may have picked up on something off but I have no idea what…"

"Is everything else okay? I thought you would pass by the house on Saturday, you didn't."

"I got carried away with McCain's case," she half-lied, "I know I was not helping myself much. I've been lectured enough on that," she rushed to add.

"I have to tell you," Emily changed the subject, "Wetherspoon phoned me in the morning."

"What?" Gloria got surprised, "What the heck did she want?"

"Just to ask how you were doing, if we were looking into something in particular, if there were any leads. I was surprised myself. I had spoken to her only once when your transition was finalised. Have you contacted her?"

"Yes, we spoke last night, nothing that important," she lied, again.

Why did that woman keep snooping around? She didn't seem to care when she should and now she was asking questions?

Emily balanced what she was told. She didn't like Wetherspoon's vague questions but it didn't seem like Gloria was getting more specific either.

"If something is up, you have to tell at least David. These people fired at you, his grandson, his daughter and her mother."

"Don't you think I know?" Gloria snapped, "The moment something relevant pops up, I'll tell him."

"So you are looking into something."

Her friend looked away, not confirming or denying it.

"Ria, you are so close to Rossi. You love him. What can you not say to him?" Emily asked, clearly dumbfound.

"Unless it is necessary for sure, he doesn't need to know, exactly because I love him, Em," she said steadily in that way that always sounded the most dangerous.

Gloria stepped out of the office quickly checking her phone for any updates. Emily was left behind thinking that her friend was probably making the worst mistake of her life.

* * *

Gloria was checking the list of Jason Barnet's with Lee. If that guy wanted to for her to check their meeting he had probably left breadcrumbs behind. There was a Jason Barnett with "Creative writer" listed as his job.

" _How is your father doing with that book that he wants to write?" he asked._

" _I don't think Johnny Walker brings any inspiration," she replied sadly._

The memory felt like it came from a different life. Well it did in some way.

" _At least he has finished quite a lot of lucrative books."_

Same voice, that memory was vivid though, just from two days ago.

"What can you find on this one?" she pointed on that Creative writer Jason.

"Only the driving licence he used to rent the car and an employee registration with an agency four months ago. They applied for a visa for him and it was successful. He is from the UK."

They were on the right track.

"What is that agency about?"

"Creative services, writing, models, video producing."

"Do they have any history?" Gloria asked a wild idea in her mind.

"According to their site yes but I don't see other mentions."

"Please find information on everyone even remotely related to this agency."

For one more time Lee nodded nervously without understanding the reasons for all this.

"And that's the address he had on the licence."

Gloria as she grabbed the paper and left to meet up with her team she thought that she had to check the address out. With a target on their back and the security measures she couldn't really sneak out of the building. Ryland had to do it, no matter if she wanted to reduce his involvement. The address was probably bogus anyway.

* * *

Early in the evening, David decided to go talk with Gloria their part of the investigation. They had stumbled upon a case of Gloria's Red Cell that the BAU had consulted on. It was an old one about an organised crime group and a material witness, a rather young kid, was murdered before he appeared in court. That was why the case was reopened in the first place. The BAU had checked their consultation but nothing. Gloria's team were checking their details. It was from a year ago one of the very first ones. They had closed it.

She was using a small file room as a temporary desk. He knocked and when he received no answer he opened the door to wait for a few minutes, probably phone Joy in the meantime. As he went to sit down he noticed a file on the desk. His eagerness for some answers and probably his gut feeling, too, took the best of him and he opened it.

There were photos obviously from street cameras. Gloria's Mustang was in few, seemingly on the way to her team's normal premises. She hadn't mentioned going to the office on Saturday. But in some photos later a car appeared right behind her, the same one, in many photos in different spots. Then close ups of that sedan, a blurred image of the licence plate barely readable and then papers from a rental company with the name Jason Barnett and then what an analyst could find on the name in the Washington DC area: addresses, car registrations, occupations. Even more papers were added after. But he stopped at an image of a man walking away from a coffee shop staring at the camera that took the image. He looked just a bit older than David. Wasn't Gloria asking Weatherspoon about someone retired from MI6 twenty years ago?

He heard steps and he closed the file. Gloria opened the door.

"What's up? Did you find anything?" she asked.

She instantly felt that something was off from the thoughtful frown on David's face, but she decided to ignore it.

"No. How does it look from you?" he asked neutrally.

"Nothing important. The kid was from a foster home. No relatives are alive anyway."

"Did 'you' find anything else?" he asked back.

"Nope. There is no much to carry on."

"So nothing has come up or happened that you haven't told the rest of us, that you haven't told me," he pressed again calmly, his disappointment growing by the second.

"No. Of course not," Gloria replied, getting alarmed.

"I'm pretty sure nobody told you that before, but you are a terrible liar when you try lying to me."

She knew all the techniques of deceiving and she was aware that she had sounded terribly. She had been one of the best spies of this planet but all her skills were disappearing with him…

"Something has been off since last night. I thought maybe something was classified and you couldn't share. But then I find this," he carried on opening the file, on top of them the photo of her car with the blue sedan following her, "It looks like others are very much filled in to what is going on."

Gloria's eyes rounded. She had said to both Ryland and her to keep it confidential, they should have assumed that included not leaving papers around. Ryland would not be that sloppy. Probably Leenux had made a rookie mistake; it wouldn't have been the first.

"Someone is clearly stalking you here, then an attack happens and you don't say anything?"

"It's not relevant and he is not stalking me. I'm just double-checking," she tried.

"The same double-checking you did with Wetherspoon last night? That's a lot of double-checking for something irrelevant."

"What exactly are you accusing me of here, Dave? I am looking into it. It's not like I sabotage the investigation," she turned aggressive as she always did when cornered.

"I never said that. But you can double the force and you don't because you want to hide something!" he raised his tone a bit.

" _Does he know about me?" the man asked._

" _There is nothing there for him to know," Gloria replied indifferently, "I had forgotten about your existence myself," and she wasn't lying._

_The man smiled to the side._

" _I am the reason you are who you are, Gloria. You haven't forgotten me. You can't. And looking at your soon-to-be-husband, your issues with men haven't changed that much, too. Or is this why you haven't told him about me?"_

"I know who was following me," she said quickly.

"It doesn't look like it."

"It is complicated but I do. There is no danger. Given what happened I have to make sure. I don't want to waste anyone else's time and energy on something so vague. I will ask for help if I find something serious. Why the hell don't you trust me?"

"I do trust you. The problem is why you don't trust me," he said abruptly.

"David…" she pleaded softly, hurt by his tone.

David knew that it wasn't some act to soften him. He didn't give in anyway. He was hurt, too. She tried to reach for his arm and he stepped back. He realised that that was the very first time he ever pulled away from her.

Gloria made the same realisation and instantly she felt like bursting in tears, getting herself angrier. Sometimes the way she could turn into such a needy woman when it came to David Rossi was too much even for her. She knew it was all her fault. But she was ashamed. If it was not proven to be relevant, he didn't need to know. Why did he have to keep asking? Didn't he know that she would do anything for him?

A soft knock sounded from the door and Leenux's head appeared as it opened a crack.

"Ma'am? I'm really sorry but there is an emergency in regards to Agent McClain's case?" she spoke uncertain about barging into the room without waiting for a response and realising that she interrupted a private conversation.

Gloria nodded.

"If I find something, I'll let you know. I promise," she stepped out quickly, not looking at David and grabbing the folder on her way out.

"My name is Gloria, not Ma'am," she turned to the young tech girl with a rather kind tone in spite of the tension she was feeling, "And I told you to give these to me or Ryland in hand, didn't I?"

Leenux had ended up in her team due to rookie mistakes that had made her look suspicious to the NSA. But the poor girl wasn't capable of bad intentions. She just couldn't handle the pressure. Being told off could only make everything worse and leaving that folder on her desk didn't qualify as jeopardising national secrets.

"I was doing that and then I found Agent Ryland outside your office. He said you were about to have a meeting with the rest of the team and he said that it is okay to leave it at your office, less disturbing," she got confused.

Gloria frowned. Since when were folders left on desk considered confidential for Ryland? But well, it was her office and with a closed door. Who could tell that David would come in and open it? He should not have done it but they were reaching 24 hours, still had no clue and he was getting desperate.

"I thought that he was right. I mean he also knows, he is the one that contacted me initially about this whole search… Ma'am… Gloria, I mean… I am so sorry..." her voice getting just a notch higher as she was getting stressed perceiving her boss' silence as disbelief.

"When did this happen?" her boss asked.

"An hour and a half ago."

Gloria paused. What she was saying added up. They had met with a whole team to discuss that case and then she sat down with him to send him to Jason Barnet's address to check it out without being noticed. He didn't say anything about a file. That man wasn't prone to mistakes.

"Lee, It's fine, not a big problem. But don't do it again no matter what Ryland says," she reassured her softly, "Actually if she asked you anything you don't say. You check it with me first," she added at the end and the girl nodded.

Gloria seriously doubted if that tech could survive in the agencies for long. For the moment she was okay in her team, though.

"What is the emergency?"

"Agent McClain's handler received an unclear message."

"What?! Is it from her?" Gloria's face lit up unexpectedly. Was the young agent actually alive?

"We don't know…"

* * *

David hated the easy exit she was offered, but they did have a missing young agent on top of everything. He shook his head annoyed. Why? Why was she hiding stuff and what was it? Damn that habit she had developed over the past couple of months, hiding what the hell was going on in her head. But hiding facts and with a danger out there? And lying right in his face just minutes ago, last night just before she snuggled to his side? That was a first. She had shared with him so much what could be so important? Contrary to her, he did trust that she would look into it thoroughly. He didn't question that. He felt angry, disappointed and betrayed. With that job she had, Gloria spent her life lying to people, lying to the enemy though. She had crossed a very important line when she had lied to the man she said she loved.

" **It is an occupational hazard that anyone who has spent her life learning how to lie eventually becomes bad at telling the truth." ~ Ally Carter**


End file.
